This invention relates to protective devices and more particularly to a fitting protector or spacer especially for structures which are suited for transport in cardboard boxes and the like.
In the packaging and shipment of filter-driers for refrigeration equipment for example, such devices are typically placed in a cardboard container for delivery or warehousing purposes. Such filter-driers are tubular structures and often have axially exposed threaded fittings thereon which require protection from axial shifting within the container and consequent damaging abutment with adjacent units or other structures. These devices are usually packaged in a container having fold-in flaps at either end which engage the fittings on the filter-drier and provide a support therefore. Such containers are, however, relatively expensive and inconvenient to load under mass production techniques wherein engagement must be made between an opening in the container flap and the component in the carton, before the end flap can be closed. An example of such prior art is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 2,537,151 in relation to the packaging of vacuum tubes.
Other forms of thread or fitting protectors or spacers have been utilized for similar purposes and often constitute a tubular-like device which can be slipped over threads or a portion of a fitting or container or the like. For economy, ease of fabrication and use such devices are quite simplified and usually comprise minimal components which are effective to serve the purpose. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,501,301, 4,033,380 and 3,840,052. The two later patents describe similar tubular structures with transverse end walls and specific devices for engagement of the threads or the like. The earlier patent is a simplified tubular structure with or without an end wall which relies on a concave wall structure for gripping support. None of these prior art devices are particularly well suited for the gripping or irregularly shaped parts of various sized wherein both radial and axial spacing is obtained.